Towards stamping out Human trafficking and Smuggling of migrants in Tunisia

Tunisia is a country of origin, transit and destination for humans who are exploited in various forms, including through trafficking in persons (TiP) and smuggling of migrants (SoM). TiP and SoM are two of the world's most shameful crimes that rob people of their dignity and basic rights. With a view to fighting these two crimes as well as their impact on the Tunisian society,the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in close cooperation with the Tunisian Ministries of Justice and Interior, held a three-day workshop entitled "Capacity-Building for the Fight against Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling in Tunisia".

The objective of the workshop is to enhance the capacities of the 20 judges and prosecutors, 10 law enforcement officers and 5 customs officials, who attended the Workshop from across the country, in the areas of identification of human trafficking and migrant smuggling cases, judicial and sentencing considerations, protection and assistance for victims of trafficking, investigation and interviewing techniques as well as international cooperation in combating such transnational crimes.

Tunisia is earnest in responding to the threat of Tip and Som. In 2003, it ratified the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and became party to its two supplementing Protocols. Furthermore, Tunisia has acceded to other regional and international human rights instruments, whereas at the national level, it has developed a draft anti-human trafficking legislation, to be submitted to the Constitutional Assembly for adoption.

The workshop took place under UNODC regional partnership with the League of Arab States and was closely coordinated with other UN Agencies and relevant partners. Presentations were delivered by UNODC experts and representatives of OHCHR, UNHCR, IOM and the Council of Europe.